Thanks, everyone, for the advice! I'm not looking to do any "deep" wrecks but I don't mind dropping down to about 80-90 feet. I don't know my buddies' comfort levels yet, or if I'm comfortable diving with them deeper than 60 so I'm not really looking for any of the deep stuff. I suspect both buddies are more interested in reefs than wrecks anyway.
As for your question, Don, I have a DSMB, a couple of whistles (one on my harness one on the SMB) and a mirror in my kit and I will make sure my buddies at least have whistles. I do have DAN insurance but can't speak for either of my buddies.
I'm comfortable with the idea of drift diving so Coz isn't a big concern with respect to that but I have no intention of doing any of the Cenotes at this point and will discourage my buddies from them as well. We're just too new to push that limit, in my opinion. I'm sure there are a couple of the shallower ones we could safely do but I can wait to do those along with some of the more advanced options sometime in the future. As for diving the keys, I'm okay with navigating as well so I'm not worried about no DM in the water. Likely we'll hire one anyway just because everyone else is either brand new or out of practice but if everyone is comfortable (with themselves and each other) we may not.
At this point I'm leaning toward the Keys, but my buddies haven't really weighed in on it fully. Any other suggestions other than Pennekamp and Molasses?
As for your question, Don, I have a DSMB, a couple of whistles (one on my harness one on the SMB) and a mirror in my kit and I will make sure my buddies at least have whistles. I do have DAN insurance but can't speak for either of my buddies.
I'm comfortable with the idea of drift diving so Coz isn't a big concern with respect to that but I have no intention of doing any of the Cenotes at this point and will discourage my buddies from them as well. We're just too new to push that limit, in my opinion. I'm sure there are a couple of the shallower ones we could safely do but I can wait to do those along with some of the more advanced options sometime in the future. As for diving the keys, I'm okay with navigating as well so I'm not worried about no DM in the water. Likely we'll hire one anyway just because everyone else is either brand new or out of practice but if everyone is comfortable (with themselves and each other) we may not.
At this point I'm leaning toward the Keys, but my buddies haven't really weighed in on it fully. Any other suggestions other than Pennekamp and Molasses?